By Shawn Gilmore, NTFC President :: Mar 10, 2017 ::

Colleagues —

A fairly brief update for the end of the week from NTFC Local #6546.

Much of our work this week has been internal, both on our own ongoing projects, and in connection with our solidarity partners. Our own efforts are being directed toward organizing and upcoming elections, first of Stewards, then of officers later this Spring. This will mean that the union will have new leadership in a number of roles, and many of our activists have stepped up their efforts to make sure we have strong Stewards and Executive Councils.

We also met with a number of our partners this week, including the historical AAUP advocacy local at UIUC, as we coordinate with them to avoid confusion (as we are also an AAUP chapter, though one with collective bargaining rights). We also hosted a meeting of the campus labor coalition, with updates on SEIU’s recently-settled contract–a huge congratulations to them. Both GEO and AFSCME will start bargaining this year as well, so we’ll need to offer them a lot of support. And, CFA held an amazing event this week, bringing together faculty, students, and labor: Radical Hope.

Next week, we’ll have leaders from UIC’s and UIS’s faculty unions in town and will be holding an action on March 15 at the Board of Trustees meeting. We’ll have much more to announce in a few weeks, including some developments about how we will proceed for the rest of the semester, with some events focused on the dire state of higher education funding in Illinois.

Our regulars will be out for our weekly Happy Hour today, at or around 5pm, at our normal location, Quality Bar, in downtown Champaign. Come on out if you’re local to celebrate the end of the week!

In solidarity